love ain't a dead end
by dateileiche
Summary: based on season 2, it focuses on Emily Prentiss' point of view. Deals with the BAU's work in the field as well as with a love story between JJ and Emily. This is only the first chapter - feelings will evolve later. BAU tries to hunt down an UnSub in NY.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's note: disclaimer - I do not own any of the characters from Criminal Minds! | This is just the first chapter - if you like it, I'll write and upload more. Please feel free to review my story. It's my first "baby" and I wanna improve as a writer!!!| It takes place somewhere around the end of season 2 | Have fun!_

**Chapter 1**

She was taking a walk at the beach, watching a gorgeous sunset, simply enjoying the calm and peaceful moment. But what was that noise? Something was definitely ringing. She scanned the surroundings, searching for the origin of this nerve-wrecking noise, unsuccessfully. Suddenly, she realized that she was only wearing her blue boxers and black top – didn't she go to bed like that last night??? Something was wrong, definitely wrong… She took one last look at the sun that seemed to have set the sea on fire and with a sigh, Emily Prentiss opened her eyes.

The sound of her alarm clock had brought her back to reality, had ended a beautiful dream and now it was time to get up and spend another day hunting down the worst criminals in the entire country. Still yawning, the brunette switched on the lights and went to the bathroom, a quick and more importantly, cold shower would help her to wake up.

Fifteen minutes later, Emily was already on her way to work, only to stop at the Starbucks just around the corner from her apartment and buy seven large cups of coffee and some muffins. Somehow she had the feeling, the whole team could need some caffeine for their morning briefing. It was definitely summer in Washington D.C., Emily was already sweating in her black pantsuit. Before entering the building the BAU – the Behaviour Analysis Unit of the FBI – was located in, the brunette agent took off her jacket and was glad to only be wearing a red tank top underneath.

Once again, everyone else already seemed to be at work, even though she was 10 minutes early. She loved her team for their motivation and the discipline they began every day with. With a smile on her face, Emily entered the meeting room and watched her colleagues for a moment: Agent Derek Morgan, a black guy in his thirties, for whom the word "handsome" probably had been invented in the first place; Agent Aaron Hotchner, the team leader who always had a serious look on his face and who still didn't trust her completely; Agent Jason Gideon, the oldest team member and certainly the most gifted behavioural analyst she had ever met; Agent Dr. Spencer Reid, a real genius in his twenties who seemed to know pretty much everything and everyone; the computer technician Penelope Garcia who had probably never been stopped from hacking into databases by any firewall ever; and Agent Jennifer, JJ, Jareau, a extraordinarily beautiful blonde in her early thirties who acted as the team's liaison with the media and local police agencies.

Finally, Emily put the cups and the muffins on the table and sat down next to Morgan who was having one of his flirty conversations with Garcia: "Good Morning!" Hotch looked up from a file he was obviously studying and mumbled something that could have meant "Hallo", everyone else greeted her friendly, happy about the breakfast she had brought. JJ was checking something on her laptop, apparently preparing to show them details of yet another case, they had been called to help with. Now she looked up from her work, her glance flickering from the coffee to Emily and back. She winked at the brunette and her mouth formed a silent "Thank you!". Emily knew that JJ loved coffee and how much she needed it to survive stressful days at work. Still smiling, she got up, took one of the cups and went over to JJ to hand it to her: "I thought you might need some caffeine" Her glance flickered to the laptop, the picture of a dead woman could be seen on screen. "Actually, now I think, we will all need it", Emily added nodding towards the screen. JJ sighed and took the cup, the women's hands touched for a second. Before Emily could even shudder, the moment was over and JJ turned around to start the morning briefing. Feeling a little confused by the intensity of the moment, Emily sat down again, listening carefully to what JJ was now telling them:

"NYPD sent me their file a few days ago and since they found another body last night, the case just hit priority!", photographs of several dead women now appeared on the big projection screen in the meeting room, " Eight victims in the past six months, all females. They were found in garbage cans all over the city, naked and with their necks broken." The blonde agent paused for a moment watching her colleagues taking in the information. Reid was taking notes, Gideon and the others just stared at the pictures of the murdered women. "NYPD is groping in the dark. Until now they haven't come up with a single suspect and the period of time between the murders is decreasing. They definitely need the BAU's help.", Agent Jareau added. Aaron Hotchner nodded, got up and looked at his watch: "The plane leaves in 15 minutes. JJ will provide further information on our way to New York. Hurry, guys!" The morning briefing was obviously over and the team was about to leave to hunt down another UnSub. Every team member took a cup of coffee and a muffin on their way out of the meeting room – at least Emily hadn't bought them in vain. At the door, the brunette waited for her blonde co-worker not without missing the worried look on her face: "It's gonna be a tough one, right?" JJ who was the only one already aware of every single cruel detail nodded: "Yes, definitely." Without really thinking about it, Emily reached out and touched JJ's arm gently: "We won't let this UnSub run! We'll get him!" JJ smiled at her colleague and nodded once again. Both women returned to their desks and packed up the things they needed to take to the Big Apple. Emily opened one of her drawers and took out a small bag in which she always kept some clothes and toiletries in case they had to leave town in a hurry.

Since she still had a few minutes, the brunette decided to go and say goodbye to Garcia. With her ability the technician was as important for the BAU as every single member of the team, but she barely accompanied them to other cities. Instead, she stayed in her tiny office at Quantico, sitting in front of a dozen of computer screens and always helped the team out with invaluable information on victims, witnesses and the UnSubs themselves. JJ seemed to already have given her a copy of the NYPD file with all the details the computer technician needed to know. She was staring at all the screens at once and was already typing something. Emily knocked on the opened door in order to not frighten her too much. Garcia looked up for a second: "Hi there!" "I just wanted to say goodbye, Penelope. We're leaving!", Emily replied almost shyly. She was still the new agent, the outsider in the team and even more than catching any UnSub on the entire planet, she wanted to really belong to them. Wanted them to trust her, wanted them to be her friends. "Oh, yeah. I'll call you as soon as I have something new. And, Emily?", Garcia smiled at her co-worker, "Thanks for the breakfast, I totally overslept and there was just no time to eat. So you basically saved my life, Prentiss!" Emily laughed happily, waved to Garcia and left to once again get on that frighteningly fast plane.

During the flight, JJ gave each member of the BAU a copy of the file, including photographs of the victims: "The first victim was murdered approximately 6 months ago, she was found only a few hours after her death. The garbagemen found her, completely naked, neck broken. Her name was Katherine Walters, 27. She worked part-time in a supermarket, two kids, married." Spencer Reid was already looking at pictures of the other victims: "JayJ? How old were the other women?" "Ehrm…hang on", JJ mumbled and checked something in the file, "Victoria Bend, 34. Clara Leed, she was only 18. María Gonzalez, 29. Elizabeth Goldstein, 39. Gloria Baker, 20. Elina Berg, 40. Sophie Greene, 22." Reid stared at the photographs for another second, then shook his head in disbelief:" Well, that's just….random." Gideon nodded and raised his voice for the first time:" True, at first sight at least. The UnSub definitely doesn't care about a certain age. His victims were between 18 and 40 years old." "He doesn't care about a certain ethnic group either", Morgan added, "Victoria Bend and Clara Leed were black, María Gonzalez hispanic. The other victims were white." Emily stared out of the small window for a moment, then sighed:" They all have to have something particular in common." Once again, Gideon nodded:" Exactly. And that will surely be the key to our UnSub." "Try to get some rest now. Relax until we get to New York. It's our last chance until we catch the Unsub.", Hotch ordered and everyone obeyed. Morgan took out his iPod and headphones, Reid asked his mentor Gideon for a quick game of chess, Hotch simply closed his eyes and tried to take a nap – or at least pretended to do so.

Emily looked out of the window again and was still thinking about the case, when JJ all of a sudden stood next to her seat. She flinched and automatically blushed, embarrassed. "Oh sorry, Emily. I didn't mean to frighten you like that", JJ chuckled, " I just wanted to ask if I may sit with you!" Emily couldn't help but laugh about herself too:" Sure. I was just…thinking." " Yeah, you had that look on your face.", JJ stated while she was sitting down next to her older co-worker. Emily stared at the blonde agent, puzzled:" What?" Once again, JJ chuckled:" You have this certain look on your face when you really think about something, when you worry about something. It's really…intense." Was it just her imagination or was it now JJ's turn to blush? Since the very first day, when she had introduced herself to Hotch in his office and JJ had stormed in, Emily had been watching JJ whenever the blonde didn't pay attention. Jennifer Jareau was not only extremely gorgeous but also warm-hearted, open-minded and intelligent. She had shown her around the office the very first day, had explained her everything she needed to know, while the other team members had only looked at her suspiciously. It was impossible to not like JJ for being the generous person she was and Emily totally had succumbed to her charms. Besides having a great personality, JJ was also damn good at her job. She handled the media competently, oftentimes used and even manipulated them to catch an UnSub. And it was her who always had to choose which case hit priority and which had to wait. She had a hell lot of responsibility already at this young age and Emily looked up to her for dealing with it so well. "Hey, you wanna listen to some music?", JJ asked to break the awkward moment of silence and took out her iPod. Emily nodded in response. Music would mean no further discussion on the intensity of her glances.

For the rest of the flight, the women listened to JJ's iPod, one earphone each, and remained silent. Both apparently lost in thought, just sitting there and enjoying each others' company. And as far as Emily was concerned, it felt good. It felt right. Far too right.

As soon as the team had landed in New York City, they split up: Gideon and Reid went to the crime scene, where the last victim had been found; Morgan and Emily went to the victim's apartment to talk to her fiancé and analyse the life she had lived; JJ and Hotch went to the local police station to set up and contact the detective in charge.

"He definitely didn't kill her here!", Dr. Spencer Reid mumbled, "No signs of a struggle. Besides, what would woman do in Queens in the middle of the night, when she actually lived in Brooklyn?" His older colleague and mentor Jason Gideon was standing next to him, staring at a rusty garbage can in the backyard of a weird-smelling Chinese restaurant. For a moment, Gideon seemed to be lost in thought, then raised his always comforting voice:" Well, the UnSub did what everybody would do here, he got rid of his 'garbage'. After having killed his victim, he disposed of her here. He doesn't care about the women, they don't matter to him. It's the act of killing that makes him do what he does." Reid nodded in agreement: "So there's no sexual component to his murders?" "No, definitely not. None of the victims has been raped or sexually abused otherwise, neither pre nor post-mortem." "But why would he keep their clothes then? If the women didn't matter to him, then why would he want to remember them afterwards?" "Good point. Maybe he disposed of them elsewhere.", Gideon figured. Reid checked something in his copy of the file, then shook his head:" Unlikely, but not impossible. NYPD searched every garbage can within a radius of 5 miles. They didn't find any clothes that could have belonged to the victim. Neither this time, nor after the other victims' deaths." "I think we have seen enough. This place has no significance to the UnSub. Let's head back to the police station and see what the others have found out so far.", Gideon decided.

While Emily and Morgan climbed what seemed a never-ending line of stairs to Sophie Greene's apartment, they discussed their strategy. Morgan was supposed to talk to the victim's fiancé, while Emily wanted to search her possessions in order to profile the dead woman. Victimology was probably the most important aspect of the BAU's job in order to provide an accurate profile of the UnSub. "Hallo?", the victim's fiancé answered the door quickly. "Mr. Rick?", Emily asked and both agents took out their badges, "I'm Agent Emily Prentiss, this is Agent Derek Morgan. May we come in, please?" " FBI? NYPD has already been here, going through Sophie's stuff and insulting me with questions about my whereabouts and alibi", he answered, eyes obviously red and swollen from crying. "Sir, we're with the Behaviour Analysis Unit. Our questions are different from the NYPD's. We need to gain insight in your fiancée's life to be able to catch the bastard that killed her. We're not interested in the standard procedure, we study behaviour. That's how we will be able to hunt him down", Morgan explained with his calm, reassuring voice. Lucas Rick still seemed to be confused – not too weird given the situation he was in, but finally stepped aside to let the two agents in. "Sir, do you mind if I go and look at some of Sophie's stuff?", Emily asked politely. "No. Go ahead. Most of her stuff is in our bedroom anyways.", he answered and pointed at a door at the end of the small hallway. Emily nodded briefly and left the two men at the entrance. "I would like to ask you some questions, if you don't mind. Where could we sit down?", Morgan watched every movement of the victim's fiancé, every gesture and every facial expression. Finally, the men sat down on a worn-out couch in the small living-room. "Mr. Rick, when did Sophie leave the house yesterday? Do you know where she was headed to?" Rick's eyes filled with tears and it was hard to miss how much it hurt him to think about the last moments with his fiancée: " I am really not sure. I think she left at about 8 pm or something. She works night shifts in a diner. That's where she was headed to." "Sir, can you please give me the name of the diner? We need to find out if she even made it to work.", Morgan dug deeper. Lucas Rick blushed and shook his head, he seemed embarrassed: " I already told the police, that I am sorry. Sophie started working there a few weeks ago. I am sure she gave a name, but I forgot. Some days we missed each other completely. I came home from my shift, and she was already gone. I think it was something like….Mary-Ann's Diner? But you know. Everything's just blurry in my head right now." Morgan shrugged, then took out his cell phone, calling speed dial #1: "Hey there, sweetness! You gotta check something for me. I need to know whether or not there's a diner in New York City called "Mary-Ann's Diner". Thanks. Later, doll!" If there was such a diner, Penelope Garcia would surely find it. "Has your fiancée been behaving differently in the past couple of weeks? Have you noticed anything unusual at all? Maybe something she did or told you about?" Rick remained silent for a while, thinking about the past days and weeks, then nodded: "Well. We haven't had…you know…physical contact in weeks. Almost a month, I think. But you know? Two months ago I had an accident while I was playing basketball with my friends. I broke my arm. We don't have insurance, so we got into trouble. Financial trouble. That's why Sophie started working at that diner, to pay for everything. I thought that's why she wouldn't want me to touch her any more…she just seemed stressed out. And I'm sure she was. So I didn't put any pressure on her, I didn't want to fight with her on top of everything, I didn't want her to think of me as some kind of horny sicko." Rick's voice broke, he stared at the ground. "I loved her so much. We wanted to get married in October." Morgan simply nodded and got up. He clearly wasn't talking to a suspect, he was talking to a mourning man who had lost the woman he loved due to some sick bastard. "Sir, I'll go check on my colleague. I am sorry for your loss, but I promise you we do everything we can to lock him up.", Morgan explained, then walked out of the living-room into the even smaller bedroom. Emily was sitting on the bed, staring at a black box: "Morgan. Do me a favour, close the door before you come and take a look at this." "Sure. Explanation though, please", Morgan answered with a puzzled look on his face. "I went through Sophie's clothes, her possessions, everything basically. As far as I could tell she was a normal woman in her early twenties. The couple didn't seem to have too much money though – her clothes are worn-out, nothing expensive. But look at the photographs on the walls and nightstands! They were happy, they were in love – they had each other. But then I accidentally stepped on a plank that seemed to be loose and I found this box right here that NYPD obviously didn't find.", Emily handed it to him and watched him raising his eyebrows in surprise. "Oh Well.", he mumbled, "that makes sense then." Before Emily could dig deeper, Morgan's cell phone rang: "Garcia? ....yes. Thank you, I figured that. Bye." He sighed: "I think we just found out where the victim was really headed to. We should go, tell the others." Emily got up, took the box back and hid it behind her back: "You go and tell him we gotta leave. I don't think he needs to see this. See you outside…. Oh and please tell me what exactly "makes sense then" in the car." Morgan chuckled lightly, then nodded in response: "Sure, Prentiss."

The detective in charge, Meredith Baker, had told them to set up in the station's meeting room. JJ and Hotch had spent the last hour putting up all the pictures of the victims pre- and post-mortem, the crime scenes and anything that was potential evidence on a huge pin board and were now going through all the details again, when Gideon and Reid entered the room. "Any luck?", Hotch asked. "That depends.", Reid stated, " we found out that the UnSub simply disposed of his victims at the crime scene. After having killed them, they were nothing more than garbage to him. He didn't kill them there, he just got rid of them." Hotch nodded, he had already figured: "We have just received the coroner's report on Sophie Greene. Just like the others, she hasn't been raped. No sign of physical resistance either. The Unsub must have surprised all of them." JJ sighed and looked once again at the pin board: "He broke their necks before they even realized what was happening. What a monster" "I think that's exactly right. He isn't sexually motivated, he isn't a sadist. He kills for a reason, of course. But it's not to satisfy his sexual needs.", Gideon added calmly and took the cup of coffee JJ was offering him.

Just a few minutes later, the door to the meeting room opened again and Morgan and Emily walked in. With an excited look on her face, Emily put the mysterious box on the table in the middle of the room and cleared her throat: "Okay, Garcia is still doing some research and of course will we have to investigate further, but I think we might have found the commonality between the victims."

For a moment, both, Emily and Morgan, looked at five puzzled, yet curious agents before they sat down with them and explained everything they had found out at Sophie Greene's apartment.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Morgan talked to Sophie's fiancé while I went through her stuff in the bedroom", Emily explained, "At first everything seemed normal, I couldn't find anything special. And then I found this box. Take a look." The box was actually a black shoe box and contained several things: a leathern whip, handcuffs, condoms, lingerie and most importantly, calling cards. "Oh", Hotch mumbled and took one of the calling cards to be able to read what it said, "Lady Cheyenne, devoted to fulfilling your inmost desires." "Has Garcia traced the cell phone number on this card?", JJ asked staring at the calling card too. Morgan nodded in response: "She surely did. It's Sophie Greene's cell phone. It's switched off though. Garcia called just to check her voicemail, it said: 'You want Lady Cheyenne to make your dreams come true? Call again after 8pm or leave a message after the signal.' Her fiancé told me she worked night shifts at a diner – that's what she told him, at least." "She must have started working as a prostitute because of financial problems. Mr. Rick told Morgan that he broke his arm about two months ago and the couple didn't have insurance. She probably was ashamed of her new job and therefore lied to her fiancé", Emily explained further, "He also said that they haven't had sexual intercourse in more than a month, she didn't want him to touch her." Gideon nodded: "She felt dirty and she was ashamed. Are you sure the fiancé really didn't know about this?" He was still considering Lucas Rick a suspect. "Yes. He started to cry when we talked, he was shaking and it was obvious that having lost the woman he loves is tearing him up.", Morgan answered and Emily nodded in agreement. Clearing his throat, Reid got up and stared at the evidence board for a moment, before he turned to his colleagues:" Did Garcia do a background check on the fiancé?" "Sure. He's 25 years old, works as a janitor in an office building. As Prentiss has already mentioned, he is now indebted due to that accident. He doesn't have any criminal record, seems like a good guy.", Morgan answered his younger colleague's question. "Has he ever been in the army?", Reid went on. "No", Morgan shook his head with a puzzled look on his face, "Why?" Before Reid could even answer, Gideon got up too, he had already understood what Reid had realized:" The UnSub's MO implies a military background. Breaking one's neck is a very efficient way of executing someone. You can kill your enemy before they even realize what's going on. He served in the army, I am sure." Everyone looked from Gideon to the pictures of the victims and back realizing that he and Reid were absolutely right about this. "Agent Hotchner?", a young officer entered the meeting room, "There's a Penelope Garcia on line one, she says it's urgent!" "Thank you!", Hotch said and waited until the officer had left the room before he answered the phone and put Garcia on speaker. "Hallo beautiful ladies and a bunch of handsome gentlemen!", Garcia greeted her team in her unique Garcia-way that always made them smile no matter how terrifying the case was, "Morgan told me to do background checks on all the other victims and their families, told me to pay special attention to their financial situations. I am emailing you the detailed information right now but to sum it up: They all got into financial trouble, they all were somehow indebted. And even though most of the victims were officially unemployed or only had part time jobs, they managed to pay their bills and also to pay off their debts. The question is: how? And I think the answer lies within the Red Light District." "That's exactly where we need to go. Thank you Garcia!", Hotch concluded, "Prentiss, Morgan – you take the pre-mortem pictures of the victims and head out to the Red Light District of Brooklyn." "Why Brooklyn?", JJ asked out of curiosity. "Sophie Greene lived in Brooklyn, so she probably worked in her borough. And I think the UnSub 'hunts' in one place, he just disposes off his victims in different places to make his killings appear random. JJ, Reid – you go and visit the families of the first four victims, Jason and I take the other three victims' families. Talk to them, ask them to let you go through the victims' possessions, find out if the women have worked as prostitutes. Profile the families." Everyone nodded and grabbed their jackets. "We'll regroup in about 2 hours – if you figure anything out, call me!", Hotch said before his team left to do the job they were so extraordinarily good at.

Emily and Morgan were the first ones to be back at the police station. They had talked to a lot of prostitutes, pimps and customers, had shown them pictures of all eight victims – with a very clear result. They all had been working in the streets of Brooklyn, selling themselves to strangers and risking their lives every single night. Emily sighed and stared at the evidence board in the meeting room: "How desperate they must have been! Who would put their life in line just to earn a few dollars? Earn money by having sex with strangers?" Morgan got up and touched her shoulder lightly: "Maybe they thought they had no other option. They were in financial trouble, saw no way out and prostituted themselves." Before Emily could reply anything, the rest of the team entered the meeting room. "Good, we're all back in time. We picked up JJ and Reid on our way back here.", Hotch explained, "After having talked to the families and having searched the victims' stuff we're pretty much sure they have all worked as prostitutes." Reid nodded and went on: "Husbands, fiancés and boyfriends told us they haven't had sex with the victims in quite a long time. The victims have been weird about it and, just like Sophie Greene, didn't want to be touched." "In contrast to their behaviour we found equipment hidden in boxes and closets, just like the last victim did. Condoms, pretty tantalizingly lingerie, disposable cell phones.", JJ added with a very serious look on her face. For a moment, Emily simply stared at her blonde co-worker, the word "tantalizingly" still ringing in her ears. Finally, she pulled herself together and nodded: "So we finally have found the common denominator! – They all were prostitutes, but more importantly, their loved ones had no idea! The victims lead a double life to earn extra money." Everyone agreed, relieved to finally have found the commonality. "That implies that our UnSub is highly organised. He surely blitzes his victims and breaks their necks before they even realize what's going on, but he must have stalked them beforehand. He must have followed them from the streets of Brooklyn to their homes and figured out that they were leading double lives.", Gideon said. "And since there is no sexual component to his killings there must be another motive. What about revenge?", Morgan asked his colleagues, "He was married or at least involved in a relationship with a woman. He finds out that his girlfriend or wife secretly works as a prostitute, freaks out and kills her. Now, that would be the stressor, right?" "Very good. His delusion begins, he looks for a prostitute who resembles his girlfriend, stalks her and finds out about her other life. He gets really angry and breaks her neck.", Hotch explained further. "He turns into a serial killer.", Reid concluded, " and his delusion worsens." Hotch got up and opened the door of the meeting room: "Detective Baker? Gather your men please, I think we are ready to give a profile."

"The UnSub you are looking for is a white male in his late twenties to early thirties. He has some kind of military background. Due to the severity of his delusion we believe that he consumes alcohol and/or drugs. Look for men who have been dishonourably discharged twelve to six months ago. We believe he kills the women out of rage, out of revenge. He might have come home after having been discharged and found out his wife or girlfriend was prostituting herself.", Hotch explained to the police. "This was most likely the stressor, the moment he turned into a killer, the beginning of his delusion. We therefore believe Katherine Walters wasn't the UnSub's first victim. His girlfriend or wife was.", Emily added. "Katherine Walters was his second victim and the fact that the period of time between each murder decreased means that his delusion worsened.", Reid explained, "Which is why we think Katherine Walters and the UnSub's first victim must be a lot alike. Therefore we want you to search the system for blonde women in their late twenties who have disappeared approximately seven months ago. It's probable the body has never been found so focus mostly on unsolved cases. After having turned into a serial killer, the UnSub started looking for prostitutes leading a double life and showed less and less interest in their appearance and age. His crimes therefore might look random at first, but they're clearly not. This UnSub is highly organised, he stalks his victims before killing them and he knows what he's doing." "We need to find this guy, and we better do it really soon. He's getting more and more reckless with each killing and he won't stop until we make him stop. So good luck, everyone.", Morgan finished and the team went back to the meeting room to discuss how to go on and solve this case as soon as possible.

Emily was standing next to the window and stared out, holding a cup of coffee in her hands. It had gotten dark and lots of prostitutes were out there in the very same minute, trying to earn money without knowing that each and every one of them was in danger. They had called Garcia to use her almost magical skills to do some research on women from New York City having disappeared a little more than six months ago. Hotch, Gideon, Reid and Morgan had gone to wander around in the Red Light District hoping to see someone or something suspicious and to talk to prostitutes in order to figure out if any of them had noticed anything out of the ordinary lately. Emily and JJ had stayed at the police station and all they could do until Garcia came up with something was waiting. "Are you okay?", JJ stepped next to Emily and softly touched Emily's hand holding the cup. Once again, the brunette flinched and blushed immediately:" Ehrm. Yeah, sure. I was just thinking about the case. I hope Garcia will call soon." JJ nodded and took the cup of coffee out of her co-worker's hand and put it on the sill. She took Emily's hand and squeezed it gently: "She will. Don't worry, Em. We're gonna get him before he can hurt anyone else. I am sure about that." JJ holding her hand caused Emily's heart to skip a beat and for a second she thought she was going to faint. She wanted to make this moment last forever but JJ's cell phone broke the silence and caused her to let go of the brunette's hand: "Garcia, tell me you got something!" JJ put the technical analyst on speaker. "Sure, sweet thing. I have searched the database, looking for missing women. And guess what? Seven months ago, a twenty-five-year-old woman, Anne Richards, was reported missing. She's from Brooklyn, has blonde hair and looks a hell lot like your first victim, Katherine Walters. Her body was never found but her family assumed she'd just run away." "Why's that?", Emily asked. "A few weeks after her disappearance, her boyfriend called the police and told them, Anne had called him to say she'd run away and that she'd never come back to New York.", Garcia explained. "Who reported her missing? The boyfriend?", JJ asked and seemed to be as alarmed as Emily was. "Yeah!", Garcia said and went on before Emily could even raise her voice, "And I am doing a background check on him as we speak. You don't even have to ask…" Emily couldn't help but chuckle lightly. For a few moments all the agents could hear were Garcia's fingers typing hectically on her keyboard, probably hacking into just another database. "Uh-oh. I think we hit the bull's eye: Justin Waters, 29 years old. He was a marine until eight months ago. Dishonourable Discharge due to alcoholism and aggressive behaviour.", Garcia said knowing that this was most probably the UnSub. Emily had already grabbed two bulletproof vests and handed one to JJ: "Do you have a current address, Garcia?" She gave them an address in Brooklyn. "Of course Brooklyn. He stayed within his comfort –zone.", JJ said as the two agents were already on their way to the UnSub's apartment. Garcia had called the rest of the team to tell them the news and give them the address as well.

The two women had just decided to wait outside Waters' apartment for the rest of the team when the front door opened and the UnSub stared at Prentiss and JJ for a second. The big "FBI" on their bulletproof vests was hard to miss so the UnSub slammed the door and tried to hide inside. Without further discussion both agents drew their guns and Emily kicked the door open. Trusting each other completely, Emily and JJ searched the apartment, ready to give back-up and shoot if necessary. At first sight the UnSub seemed to have disappeared. "Look, Prentiss. The window in the bedroom!", JJ shouted at her colleague. "Shit, the fire escape!", Emily looked out of the window only to see the rest of the BAU having arrived and getting out of their SUV and the UnSub climbing towards the roof. "He's going to the roof. Take the stairs, JJ!", Emily said already climbing out through the window. All the miles Emily liked to run in her spare time now paid off: she got to the roof right behind the UnSub. He had just stood up and was now threatening her with a gun. Emily had also drawn her gun, a serious and fearless expression on her face: "Drop the gun, lie down and put your hands behind the back of your head!" The UnSub grinned at her arrogantly and did not move an inch. "Do it! NOW!", Emily shouted at him. "I only made the world a better place. Those whores didn't deserve to live. They were dirty and they were liars.", he explained and aimed at Emily's head, "And you little bitch won't stop me from doing what I have to do." Where the hell was JJ? Only a millisecond before the UnSub could pull the trigger a gunshot tore through the air. The Unsub collapsed with a perfect shot in the head and Emily stared at the body in shock. "Prentiss, are you okay?", JJ shouted running towards her. Unable to raise her voice, Emily simply nodded and her eyes filled with tears. She was sure the UnSub would have shot her in cold blood and as the gunshot had been tearing through the air, she had been sure he had pulled the trigger. JJ had saved her life, she had been there in the right moment and she had not hesitated for a second. Tears were now running down her face and she was shaking. Before Emily could collapse or faint, JJ was by her side halfway carrying and halfway hugging her. Emily rested her head on her colleague's shoulder, sobbing. "You saved my life, JJ. I will be in your debt for the rest of my days.", she whispered only to feel JJ's gentle hands grip tighter around her to tighten the hug. "It's okay, Em. You would have done the same for me, for sure." Emily was not used to show that many emotions. Normally she'd be the cool, though special agent when it came to the BAU's work but she had just faced death and to be honest, it felt quite nice to be hugged by Jennifer Jareau. When they heard the rest of their team running towards the roof, the women let go of each other and Emily immediately wiped away her tears. She had lowered her guard in front of JJ, which was okay, but she still wanted to be "though Prentiss" for the rest of the team.

"It's over, Hotch!", JJ explained when the team's leader came closer, gun drawn, " He tried to kill Prentiss, so I shot him. He's dead". Hotch looked from the body to Emily: "You okay, Prentiss?" Emily nodded and managed to smile at JJ: "Thanks to JJ, yeah. He confessed the murders before…it happened. He said he'd made the world a better place because the prostitutes didn't deserve to live…or something like that." Morgan had also stepped closer listening to Prentiss: "Sick bastard… I am gonna call Garcia to tell her everything is alright." At the same moment Hotch's cell phone rang and he answered immediately: "Yeah, Gideon. What? Okay. Yes, I'll be right there to take a look". He shook his head in disbelief: "Reid and Gideon have been searching the UnSub's apartment and it seems like they have found his first victim and girlfriend, Anne Richards." "What? Where?", JJ asked and seemed to be as confused as Emily felt. "In a freezer in the kitchen. Next to it a box full of what seems to be all the victims' clothes. Apparently, the clothes were supposed to be something like gifts to Anne Richards. And his souvenirs to relive the killings over and over, of course.", Hotch explained already walking towards the stairway, "I am just relieved, this is finally over."

Only about an hour later, the BAU could leave and head back towards the police station. It was too late to fly back to D.C. and the team had to wait until the next morning. "I just talked to one of the detectives.", Hotch told his team, "He said there's a great Chinese restaurant just a block from here. It's opened all night. I think we should go and have a really late dinner. It's on me, guys!" It was always a surprise for Emily to actually see Hotch smiling. He barely did it while working on a case. "Yeah, I could eat.", Reid said happily and grabbed his jacket. Everyone else nodded in agreement, the muffins Emily had brought for breakfast had been the last thing they had eaten.

About thirty minutes later, the six unique members of the BAU were sitting around a table, enjoying their dinner. Everyone seemed to be comfortable and relaxed, laughing about Morgan's jokes and simply chatting. "You know what's a shame?", JJ said at one point. "What's that?", Emily, who was sitting next to her, asked looking puzzled. "This is actually, well, like the fifth case here in New York and yet I have never seen more of this amazing city than police stations and crime scenes!", JJ explained and seemed to be a tiny bit ashamed. "You have never done any sightseeing in NYC?", Emily dug deeper trying unsuccessfully not to start laughing. "Don't make fun of me, Prentiss! I come from a really small town, so no…I have never been to New York before I joined the bureau!", JJ poked her tongue out at her older colleague, "We can't all have ambassadors as mothers and travel around all the time!" Emily's eyes filled with tears for the second time that day – this time of laughter.

"Team, you know what? I think we all should take a couple of days off. We'll fly home later and then I don't wanna see you guys till Monday!", Hotch said, smiling yet again. Everyone else nodded happily and thanked their team leader for such a nice instruction.

Out of nowhere, JJ poked Emily with one of her chopsticks and chuckled. "What the F---? JJ!", Emily couldn't help but laugh. "I just thought of a very funny idea. Wanna hear it?", JJ grinned at her colleague. "As long as it doesn't involve any further chopstick-poking, yeah!", Emily answered curiously. " I think we should get a hotel room and stay in New York City for a few days. You could be my guide and we could do some sightseeing! And on Saturday or Sunday we could rent a car and drive back to D.C.! You, Me and the Big Apple – now what do you think?", JJ was obviously very excited about this. Emily didn't have to think about it for more than a second or two. The idea of sharing a room with Jennifer Jareau, of being around her 24/7 was simply thrilling. She'd get to know her colleague better, maybe build a friendship…or something. Both of them had brought a few clothes and toiletries – anything else could easily be bought if needed. "I think this is exactly what we should do! We could ask if the hotel we're gonna be staying tonight has a nice room for us. It'll be so much fun!", Emily finally said. Both women smiled at each other happily, looking forward to the upcoming days.

Seriously, how could something that involved Jennifer Jareau being right by her side for days NOT be freaking amazing?


End file.
